Reducing this list of "the best" to only twelve (overall) picks was by no means an easy task. I could have easily made this list twice as long, and still feel that there would be some notable omissions. Therefore, allow me to start the second half with some "honorable mentions", because they still are worth bringing up:
-Yugo the Negotiator (two halves done by two completely different studios & staffs, and both are great stories)
-Hareluya II BØY (animation is cheap & chintzy, but literally everything else is just outstanding)
-Yakitate!! Japan (some might feel the comedy goes too ridiculous the longer the show goes, but it's still easily one of the funniest anime I have ever seen)
-Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth (if you only ever see one Seiya anime, it should be this, as it's the purest distillation of the series & the best movie)
So, with that out of the way, let's move on to the other half of the best anime I've reviewed on this blog over the previous decade!
Violinist of Hameln [TV]
Yasuhiro Imagawa may not have a large amount of anime on his resume, but his work as a director is generally considered some of the best out there. However, not mentioned anywhere near as much is Imagawa's work as a screenwriter, which he actually has a slightly larger amount of titles to his name, though this does include some anime that he also directed. The first time he was in charge of series composition (i.e. he was head writer) but didn't also direct was Violinist of Hameln, the 25-episode TV anime adaptation of the manga by Michiaki Watanabe. This anime debuted at the end of 1996, following a theatrical short film earlier that same year which was done by a completely different studio & staff. However, whereas the movie is accurate to the comical stylings of the manga, the TV series went in a completely different direction, and Yasuhiro Imagawa made sure he delivered on director Junji Nishimura's concept... All by himself.
Compared to Watanabe's gag-filled fantasy story starring an egotistical & brash main character, the TV series' titular-ish Hamel was quiet, forlorn, and humble, and the story itself essentially removed all of the humor that the manga was known for, instead telling a dark & somber tale, though it was still technically accurate the manga's story, from what I can tell; there were a couple of gags early on, but they clashed heavily with the general tone. In later interviews, Nishimura admitted that the wild change in tone was his idea, as he was inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the anime over the years has earned itself the nickname of "The Slideshow of Hameln" because of its staunch reliance on stills, slow pans, & very little fluid animation; Nishimura also admitted that this was on purpose, following Eva's lead. Still, the lack of actual animation resulted in a wide selection of Osamu Dezaki-esque Postcard Memory stills, which all look excellent, and the story that is told in the TV series is simply exquisite, capturing your interest from the very beginning & never letting go. In a true showcase of his skills as a writer, Imagawa wrote every single episode on his own, and it might go down as one of his greatest achievements few really know of. In fact, the only other times Imagawa ever wrote an entire anime by himself was Hatenkou Yugi in 2008 (though the original mangaka did co-write the last episode with him) & Shin Mazinger in 2009 (which had Imagawa also directing), and it's just something you don't really see someone do for a TV anime. Combine all of that with a stellar soundtrack by the venerable Kohei Tanaka that's filled with arrangements of various classical music, and Violinist of Hameln is just mind-blowingly outstanding.
That being said, it's no surprise that it got ended cancelled during its TV airing, ending halfway through a planned year-long run, and it's literally the only anime Imagawa was ever head writer for an anime that didn't air in late-night; it was truly the prime-time oddity of its time. If anything, though, that makes it all the more of a true curiosity to watch, and I still hope that it gets an official English release one day.
Speaking of two takes on the same manga being totally different, this is easily the poster child for taking that concept to the extreme. During the first half of the 90s, Akihito Yoshitomi was a small time mangaka, making various short series, like his adaptations of Nihon Falcom's Sorcerian or his own pair of Loan Knight series. Upon debuting Eat-Man in Monthly Comic Dengeki Gao! magazine in late 1996, though, the manga detailing the (mostly) episodic adventures of Bolt Crank, the "World's Greatest Mercenary" who has the ability to eat inorganic material & reproduce it through his body, usually his right hand, was instantly seen as something special, and today Yoshitomi deems it his "life work". Barely months into the manga's run, a TV anime adaptation debuted on TV Tokyo in early 1997, becoming the second ever "modern day" late-night anime, following Those Who Hunt Elves; literally, the first tankouban came out just a month prior to the anime's debut. Animated by Studio DEEN & directed by Koichi Mashimo (who was also head writer), Eat-Man ['97] is almost nothing like Yoshitomi's original manga, instead coming off more like Mashimo liking the basic concept of Bolt Crank, and simply using the character to tell a bunch of short stories that he had in his head for years. The end result is definitely a "love it or hate it" series, with its highly limited animation & storytelling that focuses more on mood, atmosphere, & open-ended interpretation, which can definitely turn people off. However, the music done by the duo of Yuki Kajiura (her first ever anime score) & EBBY is simply fantastic, and even those who hate this series will concede that the music is a high point. Personally, I absolutely love how esoteric this Eat-Man series, and will always defend it. Mashimo was even able to make one last story in 1999 with the novel Eat-Man: The Killing Gene, but that will likely never receive an English translation.
Still, Eat-Man ['97] got attention in Japan, with fans of the manga complaining about how inaccurate it was to the original manga. Therefore, in late 1998, TV Tokyo & Studio DEEN decided to give it another go, but Eat-Man '98 differed in numerous ways. First, this "second season" is absolutely manga-accurate, adapting four stories told from the first four volumes, and Yoshitomi himself was even brought in to conceive two original stories that were only ever told via this anime. Second, Koichi Mashimo wasn't brought back to direct or be head writer, with Toshifumi Kawase instead handling directing duties, and all the writing done by the trio of Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hiroshi Nomoto, & Sakura Nonomiya. Finally, the music this time around was composed by Yu Imai (formerly of Sadistic Mika Band), who went for a strong Western feel (with some exceptions for the more cyberpunk-ish environments), enforced all the more so by the inclusion of Magic & Black Cats, two Japanese rockabilly bands that just added to the feel, and it matches Yoshitomi's creation well. However, one part of the original anime that was maintained, aside from art director Tsutomu Ishigaki, was casting Masashi Ebara as Bolt Crank, as he simply nailed the character down perfectly. Yoshitomi's original manga is one of my all-time favorites, so if you asked me which Eat-Man anime I like more, I'd easily answer with '98, but that's what makes watching both shows such a unique endeavor. While there have been other examples of a manga being adapted more than once, sometimes due to the previous take differing from the original source in some way, I don't think there's any other instance in which the two takes are so utterly different, & made so close to each other, than the two Eat-Man anime.
When Discotek license rescued both shows in 2016 (two years after my reviews) I was ecstatic, and the fact that both are readily available via streaming today makes me so happy, because while I can't guarantee that you'll love both shows like I do, there's no doubt that it'll be an experience unlike almost anything else.
This is the most recent anime I reviewed to appear on this list, but it's one that had been on my mental "to do list" since pretty much the beginning. That being said, 2004's Zipang, based on the (eventually) 43-volume long manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi, isn't exactly the title that seemed like it would be something I could just start watching whenever I felt like it, mainly due to it's mix of real world history (namely, the Pacific Front of World War II) & time-travel. When I realized that 2020 marked the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II, though, I saw the perfect excuse to finally watch this anime, making it the second of a three-part look at how World War II was reflected in anime. After all this time, I think it was honestly for the best that I saved watching Zipang for that time frame, because it not only acted as a neat way to reflect on how that part of the war operated, but also just showed how outstanding of an author Kawaguchi is.
Though once again a Studio DEEN productions (trust me, this is the last one we'll see), the studio's penchant for more limited animation unless necessary worked perfectly fine, making it feel as though it could have been done in live-action. Regardless of the visuals, though, it's really the storytelling that makes Zipang so outstanding, as it threads a very fine needle when it comes to both time travel & respecting history. Though focused on the Japanese side of things, the plot doesn't really glorify much of either side of the war, showing the flaws with Imperial Japan while also not portraying the Americans as anything other than understandable soldiers in a war. Meanwhile, though their actions very quickly alter the course of history wildly by saving a Japanese officer who was meant to die (& now wants to change Japan's path), the modern-day officers that have traveled back in time try their hardest to hopefully guide things toward a less destructive path for Japan, though as non-directly as possible, no matter how impossible that continues to become. That being said, the anime does suffer from a lack of any proper ending, instead hitting a stopping point that teases the next part of the story, but that does little against the masterful storytelling found here.
Unfortunately, Geneon's old DVD release for Zipang has since become nigh-impossible to get a hold of today, especially since the last DVD was one of the very last things Geneon ever put out, but hopefully one day things can change & more people can (legally) check out this outstanding story & see why it's so good for themselves.
In early 2006 Toei Animation debuted Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror (or Samurai Horror Tales) on Fuji TV's late-night noitaminA block, which did something notably different from the norm. Similar to Yugo the Negotiator, but this time all done by the same studio, three different staff were brought together to tell a trio of horror stories, with the first two being based on older plays, while the third one was an original idea. In the end it was that last story, Bakeneko/Goblin Cat, that wound up becoming the best & most well remembered part of Ayakashi, telling the story of an arranged marriage being stopped by the bride-to-be being killed, and it looks like it was because of a mysterious creature, a mononoke called the bakeneko. Luckily for everyone there, a nameless Medicine Seller happened to be at their home at the time, and he's an expert at dealing with mononoke, while also revealing the dark & shameful past of the family that resulted in the bakeneko taking residence. This directorial debut for Kenji Nakamura, Ayakashi: Goblin Cat is a true visual feast, mixing together a wildly colorful world with a visual filter that makes everything look as though it was filmed on rice paper. Really, there's not much else to say other than these final three episodes of Ayakashi are an absolute must-watch, and luckily the entire series has been re-released by Discotek Media on Blu-Ray, though there currently is no streaming option.
The following year, in mid-2007, Toei & Nakamura returned to noitaminA with Mononoke, a 12-episode series detailing five brand new stories of the Medicine Seller having to deal with other types of creatures, like the Sea Bishop, Nue, & even a neat reimagining of the Goblin Cat, but during the Taisho Era. Really, outside of moving from 4:3 to 16:9, Mononoke is truly nothing more than the same kind of excellence that Ayakashi: Goblin Cat was, solidifying the Medicine Seller as an iconic "wanderer" in the annals of Japanese fiction, right up there (in my opinion) with the likes of Vampire Hunter D's titular dhampir, Eat-Man's Bolt Crank, Mushi-shi's Ginko, or even the legendary Zatoichi. After the anime ended, mangaka Yaeko Ninagawa was brought in to reinterpret the Medicine Seller's tales into manga form, which she's been doing on occasion from 2007 to 2019, totaling nine volumes so far. Astonishingly enough, Mononoke did actually see North American release, and by the least likely of places: Cinedigm. In the mid-2010s the New York City-based media distributor made some efforts in releasing anime, but unfortunately said efforts were only as good as what was given to the company, as it did no translating of its own whatsoever. Therefore, a Slam Dunk re-release was only of the short-lived English dub (& didn't even release as much as Toei USA did in the 00s!), while Saint Seiya TV did finally see all of the Sanctuary Chapter released with English subs, but said subs were of lackluster quality, likely coming from old plans of a streaming option that never happened (at least Netflix eventually did the series right). Mononoke, however, was given a very well done (if barebones) DVD boxset release, complete with excellent subtitles that were likely taken from Siren Visual's Australian release the year prior.
Unfortunately, Cinedigm's DVD release for Mononoke looks to be out-of-print now, though it's still reasonably priced on the second-hand market (still pricier than the original $20 MSRP!), but it continues to be streaming over at Crunchyroll for the time being. Also, who knows, should Ayakashi do well enough for Discotek we might one day see a Blu-Ray re-release for Mononoke, so there's always hope for that.
If you're familiar with this blog for any real length of time, you might be surprised to see that Ring ni Kakero 1 only made it to the "Honorable Mentions", but that's mainly because I already had another Masami Kurumada anime included, and it's one that I covered in-depth (& re-reviewed) more recently. Kurumada had an 18-year run with Weekly Shonen Jump (which seems to be a common number, as seen with Hiroshi Motomiya & Masanori Morita), starting back in 1974 with Sukeban Arashi & ending in 1992 with Silent Knight Sho. However, it was the latter's quick cancellation, following the cancellation of Saint Seiya before it, that resulted in Kurumada leaving the magazine (& Shueisha itself in mid-1994, after Akane-Iro no Kaze in Super Jump), looking for opportunities elsewhere. Around that same time, Kadokawa Shoten was planning to debut a brand new magazine (which has its own wild history behind it), and saw Kurumada's opening as a free agent (so to speak) as a major way to promote it. So, in the debut issue of Monthly Shonen Ace in late 1994, Kurumada started making B't X, which would be the the manga that defined him for the 90s, as he serialized it until late-1999/early 2000 (look, manga publication dating is weird).
While the story initially starts off as a futuristic take on Saint Seiya, Kurumada cleverly begins deconstructing the very style of action manga that he had helped establish. Lead character Teppei's actions in trying to save his genius brother from the mysterious Machine Empire are often shown to be brash, taking no care in the consequences that come with them, effectively condemning the way Kurumada's prior leads (& shonen action leads in general, for the most part) will just charge in recklessly, seemingly willing to die for the greater good; after all, shouldn't one be able to see the fruits of their labor? Anyway, in 1996 TMS decided to adapt B't X into a TV series, and while there are some indications that it might have been truncated somewhat, it's still an outstanding adaptation that carries true the feel & style of the manga; it might even be the most accurate anime adaptation of Kurumada's own visual style. However, the real main attraction is B't X Neo, the OVA continuation of the TV series that quickly moves into an original plot so as to give it a climax & ending, as the manga was still running at the time. The end result is an absolutely masterful epic of an ending that pulls at heartstrings & tells a story about fighting against ultimate evil & darkness with the shining light of hope, lead by a young man who shines like the Sun itself. It's such a strong way to end off the story that it's possible that Kurumada himself took some elements for the manga, as there are some remarkable similarities between the two, despite the anime doing them first. B't X, in general, is proof that there is much more to Masami Kurumada than just Saint Seiya, and TMS' anime in particular is especially great, in that regard.
Luckily, after an infamously botched attempt by Illumitoon Entertainment in 2007, Anime Midstream has since given the B't X anime a complete release on DVD across 2018 & 2019, complete with an outstanding English dub by Sound Cadence featuring a cast that mixes together some reprisals from Illumitoon's dub, a good number of "all-star" Texan voice actors, & a lot of promising new talent. While all that's missing is a complete streaming option (TMS currently only offers the first three episodes dubbed on YouTube), the fact that Midstream's B't X Neo boxset actually became the best-selling DVD release on RightStuf shortly after release in 2019 shows that there was an appreciation for it finally getting an official release. Now if only that could possibly be carried over to official releases for Ring ni Kakero 1 & Fuma no Kojiro; fat chance of that happening, though. Make no mistake, as I love Saint Seiya (& hope that Netflix's complete dub & subs for the original TV series will one day get a physical release), but there is more to Masami Kurumada than the Greek pantheon, and I wish people would be more willing to see that.
Finally, though this overall list has no real order to it, it really wouldn't have been right to end it with anything other than the one anime that I have literally written down in its review as "perfect". Debuting in 1968 in Weekly Shonen Magazine, Ikki Kajiwara & Tetsuya Chiba's Ashita no Joe (which I love to jokingly call "Ashita no Tomorrow's Champion Rocky Joe", in reference to all of the names it goes by worldwide) would go on to become one of the most influential manga ever made, relating to the Japanese populace in a way few ever will, inspiring countless mangaka over the decades, and has been (& will continue to be) referenced in all manner of anime, manga, gaming, etc.. To properly explain how important Ashita no Joe is to Japanese pop-culture, I need only mention that two real-world funerals were held in honor of characters when they died in the manga; Fist of the North Star only got one, and that was solely done for promotional reasons decades later. It wouldn't take long for an anime adaptation to debut, which happened in 1970. Said adaptation, done by Mushi Production & was the directorial debut of Osamu Dezaki, would go on to be just about as influential as the manga, with it's iconic gritty visual style often being imitated but never truly duplicated.
A decade later, TMS decided to revive the anime & debuted Ashita no Joe 2, which covered the second half of the manga, redoing the last third of the original anime's 79-episode run before finally adapting the remainder that had never been adapted before. To get viewers ready, a 2.5-hour long compilation movie was produced that covered the first 52 episodes of Mushi's anime, and it's this movie that I first reviewed in 2014, as at the time it did have an official English release by Tai-Seng; today, Discotek has since re-released the movie on Blu-Ray, even including Tai-Seng's curiously solid dub. The movie is a stellar primer on the first half of Ashita no Joe's plot, explaining the origins of the scrappy Joe Yabuki, his eventual rivalry with Tohru Rikiishi that prompts Joe to become a pro boxer, and their eventual final fight in the ring. While it's that first half that tends to get the most focus over the decades since, though, Ashita no Joe 2 (or "Champion Joe 2", back when it was still streaming on Crunchyroll) shows that the second half of the manga, detailing Joe's return to the ring & his rise up the middleweight ranks in order to take on the invincible champion Jose Mendoza, is just as strong a story, and while the visual style is indeed different from what Mushi did, the return of Dezaki, his character design stalwart Akio Sugino, & the voices of Joe & trainer Danpei Tange helped make this "sequel" anime avoid the curse of "The Dreaded 2". In fact, I was so enamored with Ashita no Joe 2, enthralled from the first second of Episode 1 to the iconic final shot of the series, that I did something I normally never do: I deemed it "a perfect anime".
To this day, Ashita no Joe 2 remains one of the absolute greatest things I have ever watched, and the fact that it is no longer streaming anywhere officially blows my mind. The fact that it still does not have a physical release, despite now having a complete official English translation, annoys me to no end. This is one of the most iconic & beloved stories in Japanese history, and just about anyone who's been a fan of anime/manga for some length of time at least knows of this series by name, yet the best we can get is the first compilation movie. That's not a knock on the movie, either, as it's still an excellent way to at least know about the first half of the overall story, but it just amazes me how we actually got Ashita no Joe 2 legally in English via the biggest name in anime streaming, yet it was only for a handful of years & is now gone. If that's not a denigration on the fleeting nature of streaming, then nothing is.
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And those are the twelve best anime that I have ever reviewed here at The Land of Obscusion over the blog's first ten years. Some you can still check out to this day, while others are harder (if not outright impossible) to get a hold of today. In fact, there was even one that (at least for the latter half of it) doesn't even have any sort of English translation at all, but that's always been part of the entire point of this blog: To make known that which are obscure, either because they've simply been forgotten with time, or have been (unknowingly) ignored by the vast majority. My only wish is that, by helping bring to light these works, others will become interested & curious in them, and from there who knows what could happen.
However, it's not as though I've only ever come across the best anime that you never knew you wanted (seriously, "Releasing What You Never Knew You Wanted" should be a tagline for a company), because I've also covered a bunch of stuff that are obscure & forgotten for good reason. However, simply contrasting "the best" with "the worst" feels too blasé for me, so check back next week for the first half of "the most interesting anime reviewed".
Violinist of Hameln (TV) © Michiaki Watanabe/Enix・Pony Canyon・Adex 1996
Eat-Man © Akihito Yoshitomi・MediaWorks/Bandai Visual
Eat-Man '98 © Akihito Yoshitomi・MediaWorks/Project Eat-Man '98
Zipang © Kaiji Kawaguchi/Kodansha・Zipang Partnership
Ayakashi: Goblin Cat © Ayakashi Committee
Mononoke © mononoke committee
B't X © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・TMS
B't X Neo © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・Kadokawa・Dentsu・TMS
Ashita no Joe © Tetsuya Chiba/Asao Takamori
Ashita no Joe 2 © Asao Takamori・Tetsuya Chiba/Kodansha・TMS
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